Florida Football Friday Final: Gators’ woeful defense to be tested by UCF, Eugene Wilson III back?

Image Credit: Alex de la Osa / UAA

If there is one problem that has truly permeated head coach Billy Napier’s tenure leading the Florida Gators, it is a constantly disappointing defense that seems to add and change staffers yet get worse by the year. Florida is basically on its third defensive coordinator in as many seasons, yet Napier recently took it upon himself to pay closer attention to the unit because it has still been failing to live up to expectations.

Defense has been a hallmark of orange-and-blue success over the years. It led the effort in the 2006 national championship season and was just as integral to winning the title again in 2008. The Gators have always boasted ferocious, turnover-happy playmakers — many of whom have gone on to have uber-successful NFL careers — led by creative, dominant play callers the likes of Charlie Strong and Dan Quinn. Even in “down” years for the program — usually led by offensive declines — Florida could hang its hat on a defense that made life tough for opponents.

Where does that unit stand coming out of the first off week in Napier’s third season leading the program? Florida is ranked 91st in scoring defense (giving up four touchdowns a game), 111th in total defense (fifth-worst among Power Four teams), 109th in rushing defense (fourth-worst) and 97th in passing defense.

To use simpler terms: It (still) sucks.

“What we uncovered during the open date was our issues, our alignment, assignment, technique and fundamentals. We’ve been in position and not made plays. We’ve been out of position and not made plays. … Very simple things done well consistently ultimately lead to good performances, and we have to do those simple things better,” Napier said.

So … everything — the Gators need to do everything better defensively.

That should not — it cannot — be the case. Again, Florida is on its third defensive play caller, and it’s paying both that man (Ron Roberts, “head coach of the defense”) and the youngster he replaced (Austin Armstrong, “defensive coordinator”) more than $1 million in salary.

Talk about not getting a return on investment.

Asked where the Gators defense focused during the off week an in preparation for the UCF Knights — who, by the way, were just held to 21 points at home against a rough Colorado defense — Napier had a laundry list.

“Between-play process, playing against tempo. Overall, that group needs a little bit more consistency — our ability to do it down in, down out. … There [are] four, five possessions in the game where it’s, like, we disappear,” he explained. “… All the research that we did in this past week — alignment, assignment, techniques, fundamentals — those are the areas we spent a lot time on.”

Napier expanded on that sentiment, pointing out that Florida is not generating consistent pass rush and affecting the quarterback, not going after the ball and making plays to take it away – basically, the team is not aggressive and attacking enough.

“It’s been a huge point of emphasis. We’ve been promoting between-play process and then takeaway behaviors,” he said. How many takeaway behaviors can you put on the tape in a practice? We literally tried to finish every play today with a takeaway behavior because, ultimately, if that behavior is not on the tape we can’t depend on them to turn the ball over. We want to be intentional about takeaway behavior and go take the ball away and force takeaways.”

This is part of the paradox about the Gators under Napier. The offensive play calling has appropriately left fans frustrated and angry. Yet over the last two-plus seasons, in most of Florida’s losses, it has usually done enough offensively. But when you face a team like UCF with a quarterback like KJ Jefferson coached by someone like Gus Mazlahn, scoring 40+ points may not matter one iota.

“The quarterback is involved in all the elements of the run game. That’s the ultimate challenge,” he said of UCF’s offense. “Gus does a really good job. It’s almost wing T, option blueprint here in terms of dive, quarterback pitch, all the read elements — whether it’s zone read, power read. And then they have a series of perimeter plays that go with that. The three-level routes, there is a ton of eye discipline. Got to be sound on the edges. It’s typical. Coach Malzahn does a phenomenal job. There is a lot of the conflict and that’s going to be a big part of the week. Narrowing our focus a little bit, making sure we’re all buttoned up and ready to go.”

Reinforcements coming?

The Gators did not and will not release either an injury report or depth chart this week because they are not playing an SEC opponent; however, it’s possible some ailing players may be back on the field come Saturday. None would be more notable than sophomore wide receiver Eugene Wilson III, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last month and returned to practice Wednesday.

Napier said Wilson “took some reps,” and those who observed practice said he did not wear a non-contact jersey. “We feel good about his progress,” Napier said. “He’s on schedule.”

Seemingly cleared as well is redshirt freshman WR Aidan Mizell, another speedster who took most of Wilson’s reps two weeks ago in a breakout performance. He was dealing with an unspecified lower-leg injury. Should Florida be able to get both players on the field at the same time, perhaps there could be some more fireworks in The Swamp than usual.

Sharing is caring

There will be no substantial changes to the timeshare between redshirt senior Graham Mertz and freshman sensation DJ Lagway at the quarterback position. Napier this week said the rotation will be set before the game with adjustments made “based off what we think is right.”

No adjustments were seemingly made in the win over Mississippi State as Mertz succeeded moving the team up and down the field, though to be fair to Napier, Lagway thrived in the two most difficult situations the Gators faced in the game — leading touchdown drives despite starting backed up near their own end zone.

“What I don’t want is a guy to be playing cautious. I want him to do what he’s supposed to do, have confidence in the play, be aggressive, and then they’re working together and not looking over their shoulder worrying about, ‘[What] if I screw up.’ I just don’t think that’s good for either player,” Napier explained. “… Here, we got a very unique dynamic — got a guy who is one the best quarterbacks in the country. Then you got a young player who undoubtedly brings a level to the team that I think can help the team be better.”

Napier praised both players on Monday: “Fun to be on the grass with them every day to see them work together, prepare together. … The big thing is the character of both guys. Their humility, selflessness, the confidence they have, and the way they affected their teammates in a positive way. That’s the big thing. This can easily be a distraction or issue, but it’s not because of the makeup of both players. DJ will continue to get better. The more reps he accumulates in the game, the better, and all of a sudden you’re preparing a little bit different way.”

Hot seat status: Ambiguous

While it feels as if Napier’s ouster is an inevitability, nothing beyond conversation has happened behind the scenes, sources told Only Gators this week. Furthermore, many around the program believe what Only Gators has stated numerous times: There is not an obvious interim coach in house, making a potential firing of Napier more difficult with this many games left in the season.

Napier said his relationship and weekly conversations with athletic director Scott Stricklin have been “status quo” this season with no specific inkling from the coach that his seat is any hotter than it was to begin the campaign. “Any time we spend on that would be a waste of time and a distraction. We owe it to the players, I owe it to the staff to have my complete focus on improving the team,” he said.

Certainly a second loss to UCF during his tenure — coupled with his other myriad failures — might alter future conversations significantly coming out of Saturday. Napier, though, seems to have tunnel vision despite his uncertain future.

“One of the things I have always said to myself in the profession is they pay you to do a job. Do your job,” he explained, echoing the mantra of former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. “Ultimately, at times, we’ve felt as if we could do our job better. That’s all I’m trying to do. We took the same approach at every stop along the way — felt that way at Louisiana, stayed there until I felt like we did the job. Ultimately, that’s always the attitude. A wise man once told me that one time: ‘They pay you to do a job. Keep it as simple as you can.’”

Napier remained steadfast that Florida has improved markedly — at least internally — since his arrival despite a lack of success on the field.

“We have built a lot of good systems in terms of in-house, how we operate — overall, the workflow, everything is up and running. Maybe that wasn’t the case when we first got here,” he explained. “I think we’ve done a good job adjusting to the landscape. For every six months we were here in the beginning, it just continued to change. [Editor’s note: That is true.]

“We’ve got more depth. The makeup of our team, just don’t have a ton of headaches day in and day out relative to their decision making, character. I feel really good about that part. Ultimately … we got to go produce on the grass. Twice this year we didn’t play up to our potential, in my opinion. We need to continue to focus on what is going to help us perform better.”

Notes & quotes

Napier said Florida had three “really good” practices during the off week: “Thought it was phenomenal – physical. It was fast. It was game-like. It was very competitive. It was scored. It was graded. … I feel as if we got better last week.”

Napier on starting fast in games: “Starting fast is critical to playing winning football. Certainly, when you play at home, if we’re able to get the crowd into the game, it’s a big piece of puzzle. There is no doubt that will be one of the keys to playing winning football Saturday night.”

Napier on improving production from the tight ends: “All those guys have improved. Even Tony Livingston, his role’s increased a little bit. We got three really good players there. Certainly Hayden [Hansen] and Arlis [Boardingham] continue to get better. We want to distribute the ball. We want to have tight ends that are match-up issues. And both those guys have done a good job, not only as a vertical threat but as a run after catch threat and as many gaps as you can create gives us a little bit of versatility. We want to continue to do that. I do think Amir Jackson has had a really good open date and a good couple of days here. He’s got more reps. He’s impressed me just watching in the last couple of days.”